I like to write about movies of all sorts: old and new, good and bad, mainstream and obscure, local and foreign.
Warning: some articles in this blog may be offensive to fans of James Bond, Jean-Luc Godard, and Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris.

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

What Is My Problem, Man?

This is the second time it's happened now, first what happened with Fellini last year and now this. Why is it that I am such a big fan of David Lynch and yet it seems every time I watch something that obviously inspired him I can't stand it. This time my Cinema Studies class got kicked off with the movie Sunset Boulevard, a film which I understood to be a favorite of Lynch's. I also knew Billy Wilder was a good director, considering how much I enjoyed Some Like it Hot.

I wanted to like this movie, but in the end it ultimately proved to be really hard to sit through and I spent most of it just waiting for the darn thing to end. I probably would have gotten completely lost if I hadn't had the foresight to look at Wikipedia's summary of what happens. There was also a major plot hole that bothered me: it is made clear that Joe is dead when the movie begins (as opposed to simply being wounded), so how exactly is he narrating the story? The only thing that really seemed to make the film worthwhile was to spot the little things that Lynch managed to pick up in his much better movies.

In particular, it quickly became clear that Sunset Boulevard had to be a major inspiration behind David Lynch's masterpiece Mulholland Drive, something that becomes clear right from the opening credits. The two of them are structured very similarly, right down to the idea of using a street sign in place of a title card. They even both have similar titles, with the two films being named after actual roads found in Hollywood.

There are other little parallels as well. I personally could not help noticing that both films had a major female character named Betty, and she was even involved in a tricky love affair. On this front, Lynch was able to be a bit more daring due to the timing of Mulholland Drive. These relationships involved betrayal and deception (although Lynch's betty was referred to as "Diane" during the scenes showing that relationship). Sunset Boulevard's is the more straight forward of the two, where the romance between Betty and Joe is complicated by her engagement and his... questionable relationship to Norma Desmond.

David Lynch was able to be a bit more daring with Mulholland Drive, touching on a more controversial issue by making Betty a lesbian. In her case, as we see at the very end, Betty/Diane had been in a relationship with Rita/Camilla Rhodes, and was crushed when she was invited to a party and watched her friend kiss another woman while a man announced his engagement to her (with hints that Camilla had been using sex as a way to move up the ranks). Betty/Diane goes on to hire a hitman to kill Rita/Camilla. Fittingly enough, Sunset Boulevard also ends with a frustrated and unstable Norma shooting Joe dead.

Hollywood and, by extension, the filmmaking scene are also both major elements for both. Mulholland Drive was arguably Lynch's first movie to really explore the world of movie-making (a theme he would later revisit in Inland Empire), but even though it is not the central focus, the whole thing provides a strong background to the main action. One of the main characters is an aspiring actress trying to make her first big break into the business, while by interesting contrast, Sunset Boulevard's Norma Desmond is a washed-up actress trying to get back into the business. In both films there is also a sub-plot that comes from a supporting character trying to make a film with some difficulty (Betty in Sunset Boulevard and Adam in Mulholland Drive).

I can't quite figure out why this is happening to me. First Fellini and now a respected Hollywood Classic from a director I know is talented. Why is it that whenever I see something that clearly inspired Lynch I can't seem to stand it and yet I still enjoy his movies. Mulholland Drive obviously draws from Sunset Boulevard on so many levels, so why is it I still enjoy the former but not the latter?

The parallels I have traced are probably just the tip of the iceberg, so what is it that makes him work so much better than the guy who inspired him? Because I am such a big fan of Lynch, and I know Sunset Boulevard was a favorite of his, I really wanted to like it, but I couldn't. What is my problem, man? What's wrong with me?

7 comments:

I don't think anything is wrong with you. It actually happens to us all the time. For instance, I know lots of people who love Sin City and/or it's sequel but wouldn't give the time of day to Film Noir of decades past that inspired those movies. That said, I happen to be opposite you on these two particular movies. I like Sunset Blvd, but not Mulholland Dr. Ironically, my review of the Lynch movie is set to publish this weekend.

I guess that makes sense. I've loved several movies (including Mulholland Drive) that were undoubtedly influenced by film noir and yet I do get nervous when confronted with some actual films in that genre from the 1940's and 50's.

I have not seen Mulholland Dr. but I love Sunset Blvd. The whole idea of the dead man narrating I thought was inspired. Billy Wilder took a real stab at Hollywood and L.B. Mayer wanted to burn this film. There is so much reality in Sunset Blvd from the chimp to the actual home that I was completely absorbed into this film especially since Stroheim was such a famed director in his day but virtually forgotten when he played her butler. In the end, it is all a matter of taste but I love Sunset and sorry I can't comment on Mulholland:)

I don't think that you have a problem and I sometimes feel this way about certain movie as well like the American remake of Seven Samurai, which is called The Magnificent Seven. Also, don't feel down on yourself because everyone feels this way when it comes to films.

To be honest, I'm not a big fan of Kurosawa in general, and The Magnificent Seven was okay.

I think it's a slight problem that seems to persist nowadays, everybody seems to say "this movie is really good" and it suddenly seems like there is some kind of pressure or obligation like you have to like this movie or you're crazy. I suspect it is that same pressure that has caused me to put off a lot of old movies, and probably the main reason I have still never gotten around to seeing Touch of Evil.

You know, I did the same thing with this film. I saw it because Lynch spoke about it in an interview and I was disappointed when it was over. I just didn't click with me. But I think expectations have a big part to play in that. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a film, not liked it, waited a few years and then tried it again and at least appreciated what others saw in it (if not coming to like it myself).

And yeah there is a pressure around some of the "classics" to like them "or else". But if you can articulate why the film didn't work for you, I think that is fine. A lot of these classics have been taken apart and reused in so many other movies that they seem over-familiar to newer viewers. They won't feel that same connection at seeing that type of movie for the first time. So don't feel too down on yourself. Give it a few years and give "Sunset Boulevard" another spin. You might change your mind.